Two more weeks.... and a cloud hangs overhead

I'm documenting Meadowlark's spring flowers every two weeks (and surprisingly have made a good show of going there on schedule!) but in the back of my mind this whole time has been "oh boy, we are that much closer to my trip to Italy and Switzerland with my parents". 

Howevuh.  Mother Nature shows her benign and beautiful side in a gentle Washington DC spring...  but her wrath and fury through a volcano in Iceland.  Is she a woman scorned?  Cosmic justice for the UK banking system for bringing Iceland to its knees?  Is it just blind luck that this volcano (Eygasfiugyrugryugreysasouffull - close enough) happens to be under the jet stream?  The ramifications are becoming more dire with each passing day.  The hell with "my little vacation".  This is going to be a European wide (if not global) catastrophe if the planes can't get up in the sky anytime soon.  And I'm not talking about people on vacation, or business travel.  I'm talking about global trade.  The only good thing to come out of this may be that oil prices should drop precipitously after another week goes by. 

At any rate - serenity now.  Enjoy the photos.  Oh yeah - and most of the below are with my BRAND new Canon 7D!  I bought it yesterday.  I have the 24-105 F4L lens on it.

This one was taken with my old Canon 30D using the 35mm F1.4L: