Book Review - Ride the Rising Wind by Barbara Kingscote: one woman's journey across Canada

In May of 1949, 20 year old Barbara Kingscote and 15 year old Zazy, her little black mare, set off from Mascoushe, Quebec for Vancouver,  British Columbia. Barbara planned a year long journey across Canada while awaiting placement at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph. They were sent off with good wishes, a map, provisions and $100.00. Along the way, Barbara would stop at small towns to renew her provisions, send and collect mail from her parents or sister. She and Zazy grew ever closer, listening to each others excitement or hesitations. 

They encountered many hardships: storms drenching them with cold rain, attacked by black flies in Ontario and other as determined insects on the prairies, the draining heat on the prairies where there was little cover, some unsavoury characters that she fended off bravely. But she loved her journey, met many Canadians who welcomed her into their families with meals and much needed rest, travellers who gave her rides or directions. Occasionally she slept on a porch, a floor or in a hay loft. On these happy visits, Zazy was stabled in a barn, sometimes with a stall. Many times they slept outdoors. Only once did they hear a cougar, but didn’t see it. She was always concerned that Zazy have oats, a farrier as often as possible to tend to her shoes and the ‘galls’ (saddle sores) that she suffered from. Because of the sores, Barbara finally sent most of her tack back to her home in Quebec and rode bareback the last 500 miles. In the winter of 1949, Barbara was able to get employment at a lumber camp as a ‘cookie’, assisting the cook with preparing and serving the meals to the men. Zazy was stabled there, not without some dissent. When the head man tried to get her stabled elsewhere, the determined little mare left to find her Barbara. Helen, the cook made sure that Zazy always had an oatmeal cookie and kiss on the nose. The men could get rowdy from time to time, with alcohol involved in stirring the pot. She described some of the difficulties there, but she was never injured and differences were resolved among the men.

Immediately after their ride, Barbara did enter Veterinary School and graduated in August of 1955. Zazy remained in B.C., with good friends for 3 years until Barbara could pay for her fare by rail to Guelph. This is a second read of this fascinating this coming of age book. Barbara Kingscote describes parts of Canada that most of us have never known. Her descriptions of the land, the wildlife, and the people they met along the way are poignant. It took me on the journey with her, a journey that ended in August of 1950.

“How did you ever take your first step out?”…….

 “I didn’t know how far it was?”

Barbara Kingscote, Ride the Rising Wind: 

one woman’s journey across Canada

Author’s note: no cell phones, no internet. Just paper maps, dial telephones in homes and towns, and the good will of strangers and intuition.  

Title: Ride the Rising Wind: one woman’s journey across Canada

Author: Barbara Kingscote

Publication Date:  2006 

Publisher:NeWest Press

Type: Memoir

Format: Paperback 

ISBN - 13: 978-1-897126-05-9

ISBN - 10: 1- 897126-05-0

Wide Open

What a lovely evening! 

Wide open to the clouds in the sky

Vibrating with cheerful birdsong

Moist with the freshening smell of rain

Crashing thunder fades to distant rumble

And all is well.

“…So let us welcome peaceful evening in.”

~ William Cowper

(1731 - 1800)

On an Early Evening Walk ~ An Accidental Kindness

Exploring my neighbourhood, streets graced with tall old elm trees, gardens barely starting to grow, long grasses with delicate seed heads and a variety of lawn art. I chanced down a short connector toward Wascana Park. On my way back, at the head of an alley, there they were. A clump of lovely yellow and purple irises planted by the homeowner outside the fence. What a treat! As always, my walk provided me with joy and beauty.

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

~ Henri Matisse

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Under the Warm Sun

Under a warm sun, 

a stroll by the ruffled lake,

quiet geese foraged in the grass

a picnic table to write and muse

trees played with a cooling wind

taking leave of this peaceful shelter 

delicate flowers nodded to me

on my measured journey back home.

“What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise 

and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?” 

~ E.M. Forster

More and More and More

As an adolescent, I begged my father for 

a beautiful gold coat without a collar

Winters in Saskatchewan not

a good pairing for such a coat

but, like any “good” father, 

he bent to my pleas. I wonder ~

What would have been sacrificed?

Today, as an adult, I didn’t have to beg

I became my own parent, deciding

What money would I spend on myself?

Did I want the best backpack for

my slight frame and sturdy shoulders?

Will it hold my book, my pens and lunch

colour only the last part of my decision,

but very important to my creative side.

In the 1950’s the Eaton’s store 

had a limited selection of goods.

Today, over 60 years later, in a 

cavernous store only one of many

In a Mall with rows and rows of 

clothes, shoes, backpacks, gadgets

and more and more and more….

Childhood pleas continue

Parents keep bending to pleas

Despite budgets and cost

Choices are more and more and more

Eaton’s and Sears are distant memories

The fun and expectations of catalogues 

morphed to online shopping so we can have the more.

“As long as you think more is better, you’ll never be satisfied.”

~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Train Tracks

Progress: 

There is nothing like it 

only the chug of an engine 

crawling up a hill 

racing down the other side 

gears grinding 

to slow it’s momentum

the engineer that is the writer 

constantly switching tracks until 

completely lost 

in an undergrowth of words and rusted tracks 

but faithfully backtracking into the open 

until once again chugging along 

not knowing for sure where the tracks will lead

but seeing a light at the end of the tunnel

and hoping it’s not another train.

“I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.”

~ Marie Curie

Sheltered

Sheltered ……

from knowledge

is awkward when

ancient beliefs hold fast

Sheltered…….

from ancient beliefs

makes knowledge

vulnerable and translucent

Sheltered ……

from each other

we can become

afraid of the world

Shelter……

of any kind is necessary 

but needs safety and balance 

for us to step boldly into life.

“I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. 

A sheltered life can be a daring life as well.

For all serious daring starts from within.”

~ Eudora Welty