Cactus Flower Again

All those lovely little flowers on my miniature cactus have opened up beautifully so I thought I would take advantage of them for Flower Friday. 

 This was also an attempt that failed for my homework for the flower course I am taking.  The assignment was to work as close as possible, with extension tubes, macro filters, lenses, whatever is available and with Light and bokeh.  I had a bit of trouble using the lights and creating the bokeh I had envisioned.  I definitely need more practice.

I have been quite absent from blip but not without good reason.  My poor husband has had to deal with a kidney stone, and several trips to the emergency room and an overnight stay, before it finally resolved itself, as they often do, but not without a lot of suffering.  I had only just brought him home when I was waylaid by some sort of GI thing.  So we are just now coming back to life.