The day got away from me. Looked outside & it was dark already. Grabbed the camera and went out to my dahlias (not much left). Should have taken a flashlight since focusing was a problem. Used the flash outdoors for one of the few times and was surprised that things worked fairly well - exposure & focus wise, but the subject & composition are a bit off because I really couldn't see what I was shooting. The best way to do macros of dahlias is to move the lens back & forth to see what looks interesting (you really can't tell what's there with the naked eye - or not well, anyway), but the dark made that impossible.
Had a good competition night yesterday. Got a ribbon with each of my four entries. You can check here to see if you agree with the judge - http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/49082677 & http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/50325823 & http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/48308538 & http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/50430398 My wife disagreed with the judge on the first & third links - she would have reversed the order he chose (I agreed with the judge).