Ah, spring, finally!

We welcome the season’s return on Thursday, at 12:48 a.m. to be exact. That’s when the Sun will cross directly over the Earth’s equator — the vernal equinox.

Equinox means “equal night.” Both day and night are about equal in length, due to the 23.4 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis. Because of the tilt, we receive the Sun’s rays most directly in the summer. In the winter, when we are tilted away from the Sun, the rays pass through the atmosphere at a greater slant, bringing lower temperatures.

In early times, people celebrated Spring because it meant that their food supplies would soon be restored. The date is significant in Christianity because Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

Thus, you have Spring (vernal equinox) on Thursday, the full moon Friday and Easter on Sunday.

We also know it’s spring because robin sightings are picking up and I’m hearing about them.

The first reader to tell me about a robin was way back in Jan. 30. Whether the birds go away or not, they aren’t noticed much in the fall and not until after the new year starts.

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Gregory M. Franzwa, author of “The Mormon Trail Revisited,” will be discussing his book at 2 p.m. Friday at Ottumwa Public Library.

I last wrote about his book in a November Etcetera column and he told me he’d let me know when he would be in the area.

He and his wife, Kathy, who now live in Utah, are on a 17-city book tour for this, his 20th book. His first program was Tuesday in Nauvoo, Ill., with a full house planned, and the last program is March 28 in Council Bluffs.

He served in World War II, leaving the U.S. Navy in 1946 with the rank of Lt. J.G. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Iowa in 1950, moved to St. Louis, Mo., then to Tucson, Ariz., and two years ago to Tooele, Utah.

He wrote his first book in 1965, and will be talking about his 20th book, “The Mormon Trail Revisited.” The guide book follows the route taken by Mormon pioneers during 1846-47.