There have been dark, concerning rumblings of a truly troubling character circulating quietly and ominously of late. No one is certain where these rumours have arisen from, but obviously from some knowledgeable source. Unsubstantiated, needless to say, by authority, but taken as given among those whose familiarity with such events cannot be denied.

The gist of which, is, in a nutshell, our most famous, favourite, welcomed and yearned for season has been abducted, taken to some place one can only imagine, being held scandalously for ransom or worse, being threatened; heaven knows what the details may be. Detained in the best of all possible scenarios, temporarily -- briefly, we can only hope. But if the worst-case scenario develops as some darkly hint at, we could be left without a spring succession to winter.

It's clear something is amiss. It's not just anxious gardeners, nature-lovers or merely the vast hordes of people exhausted from an extraordinarily long, frigid, snow-icy winter, not at all. Take for example the St.Lawrence Seaway, now in its 56th season opening - delayed due to ice buildup and slow melt. Harsh winter weather this year we are informed, has led to the latest opening in decades. So commerce too is affected; what's going on here?

In this Jan. 9, 2014 photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard a convoy of Great Lakes cargo ships line up to follow an icebreaker on the St. Marys River, which links Lakes Superior and Huron. As of Feb. 13, 88 per cent of the Great Lakes surface was frozen, according to the federal government’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.  Photograph by: Lt. David Lieberman , AP

Two days ago the temperature had finally relented and became mild enough to gift us rain. A day before we'd had snow. That, we thought, was progress. And yesterday, absolutely balmy weather, albeit overcast and a tad on the windy side ensuring that winter-bite was still prevalent. Still, we had hope.

This morning, we woke to heavy clusters of determinedly falling snow. And it was clear it had been snowing for some time, since there was quite a thick build-up. We saw forlorn-looking chickadees and juncos at the bird feeder, and overheard a clutch of squirrels nattering about their belief that a malevolent plot was afoot, detaining spring and encouraging winter to overstay its welcome on a more or less permanent basis. Is that fair?