I don't think I could help much, my daughter has the A95 but only uses P mode. Focussing on thorns would be "thorny", pardon the pun, plus you may be trying to shoot in the shade. The camera will likely backfocus on such a small subject, although they like something vertical so if you pick a straight stem you might be ok. Did you try the macro mode? Sometimes you need to use a tripod or other stabilization to avoid camera shake in that mode, but you can get closer. I usually shoot aperture priority, and would be hard put to lock focus on a thorn, and I have a good macro lens now. I would suggest the AV setting and dial in the aperture number. The higher the number, the smaller the lens opening. For flowers, using something in the range of f4 to f5.6 is usually pretty good. You have to experiment. If you want a deep depth of field with everything in the photo in focus, try f8, but then the camera might pick too slow a shutter speed, depending on light. To get a really shallow depth of field with good bokeh in the bg, try the largest lens opening your camera will allow (smallest number). Depending on what it is, you may not get everything you want in focus, like the whole blossom, face, etc. ISO on those p&s cameras will force a faster shutter speed, but then you run into noise problems. I would set the ISO to the smallest number your camera will allow in good light and not bump it up more than two notches. Offhand, I can't think of why your pictures are dark, but bumping the ISO up a little higher might help, not too much or you will get noise. I don't think you can bump it up past ISO 400 anyway, if that. Something else you can try, I think it works in P mode, is to bump up the exposure compensation. If you move it to the plus side, you will have to watch blown highlights. If you move it to the minus side, it might be underexposed/dark. You may have inadvertently reset some setting you shouldn't have in there or something could be wrong with your camera or metering. I would try restoring the camera to the default settings and start over. There should be some place in the menu for that. If you have an option for center point focus, I would use that, but use pattern or evaluative for metering (if you get a choice for that). If you can post a sample showing the exif info, that helps, but only certain programs and saves preserve that. The regular Canon forum on dpreview.com would be a good resource for you to achieve a higher skill level. That camera is capable of taking good photos with the proper skills and knowledge. If all else fails, you can try the flash. You can adjust that through the menu, too, look for FEC. Outside, I would start on the negative side, in -1/3 increments, not going below -1, (same with exposure compensation, don't go below -1 or above +1) because you don't want too much of a blast. It's called fill flash. On those cameras, in bright sunlight situations, you should always probably use about -2/3 to -1 exposure compensation or they will be overexposed and have blown highlights; otherwise, leave it at 0. Now Joe could have answered this with a lot fewer words :-). And I might not have thought of something.

ISO in search of H. T. Cushman furniture catalogs 1870 a 1934. Thanks!

If you find one with a white top, you can always paint the base whatever color you need.

I see some on etsy that look similar under GorgeousDesignHome - black gold kitchen cabinet pulls