Graca Flower Seller

I am interested in flower sellers of all kinds from the trendy flower shop in the posh part of town, to the grower at the morning market, to an elderly woman selling on the street. This week I met Maria, a florist for 48 years! She has a colorful flower booth in the center of Graca, a residential neighborhood up high on a hill above Alfama in Lisbon. The center of all the activity is the Largo Graca where older folks gather on benches and young parents pick up kids from school. Under large green trees, Maria sits with her friends, and sells flowers. She was kind enough to let me take her photo and to put up with my broken Portuguese.  I brought home one of her lovely ivy geraniums for my city garden. She instructed me on the proper way to carry it (holding the top of the sleeve in a handful).