This month is named after Mars, the Roman god of war, an apt choice for a month in which we experience repeated skirmishes between winter and spring. So far this year, winter seems to be winning.

We know that spring will eventually vanquish winter, but we are now in the fifth month of winter and anxiously awaiting that victory.

The warm sunshine isn’t an unmitigated blessing. Yesterday, on our way home from Saskatoon, the last stretch of highway was a white knuckle experience. The sunshine had warmed the pavement just enough that snow drifting across it stuck and then froze to form a sheet of ice.

Today, my wife left for the sisters’ sewing day at church, a distance of 4 km, and the roads were clear all the way. Coming home three and a half hours later, blowing snow made visibility difficult and she encountered a snow drift across the road that had not been there in the morning. She was halfway home, too far to walk back or forward.

Thanks to her cellphone I knew she was stuck, but I had no way to help. But our son-in-law and grandson also got the message and drove out to help her get unstuck and get home.

It wasn’t a nice experience, yet we have much to be thankful for. She could sit in the warm car and know that help was on the way.

Unfortunately, our cellphones can’t tell us how long we have to wait for spring to arrive.