When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, each November my American friends would ask me why I was wearing a red flower on my coat. Canadians pretty much blend right in south of the 49th parallel, given enough time, but you can sometimes pick them out by looking for a few weird habits, like celebrating Thanksgiving a month and a half early, and like wearing plastic poppies in early November.
I don’t know how my mom got the authentic plastic given-out-by-Canadian-veterans-in-malls poppies down there. I imagine she saved them from before she moved away. But for those Canadian ex-pats less outrageously forward-planning, or Canadians (ex-pats or not) who keep having the darn things come unpinned and make a leap for freedom whenever their purse shifts slightly, here is a very simple, very quick tutorial for making your own Remembrance Day poppies.
