I need to expand my vocabulary. The current one lacks words to describe the ice-covered world we walk through today. There’s the glacier ice, a pale aquamarine that fades to snow white under the strengthening morning sun. White iceberg islands dot gray lake ice that imperfectly reflects the white of mountains and glacier. I spend most of my time studying the slick ice that covers every trail we take. Even Aki struggles to keep upright on it. Without cleats on my boots, I wouldn’t have been able to walk from the car to the trailhead. Inch thick slick stuff clings to the trail and mimics the rises and dips on exposed tree roots and pebbles. I take a gentle fall when my left boot slips over an ice covered tree root.