Serious

Elliott impersonating Harry Potter in misappropriated glasses.

Paleontologist

Elliott plays paleontologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences' hands-on fossil digging exhibit. His dinosaur-loving friend Hannah celebrated her third birthday there this morning.

Happiness = Green tea + Lego

Vintage Elliott: Little

Smoking jacket

A reason to be happy about the suddenly wintry weather: Elliott looks mighty fine bundled up in his smoking jacket.

Vintage Elliott: Hiding

Kenneth

Elliott and Kenneth, quite possibly the only other young man in all Philadelphia who considers 7am the best possible time to be out for coffee. This one's a self-portrait.

Autumn on Quince

Headphones

He is, according to the headphones' 18-year-old owner, listening to Dashboard Confessional.

Zipper

Happiness is...

...a tin full of dried figs and pecans.

Cow

Elliott thought it might be "bit chilly out" so he repurposed his favourite t-shirt as a coat to keep Cow warm on our morning outing.

After coffee

Portrait

We commend you Elliott for your continuing refined taste in young ladies. Not only is his new C² (coffee crush) sweet and gorgeous, she's also very talented. Above is the quick portrait his lovely art student friend drew this morning.

Garbage truck spotting

H wishes that, like the garbage truck mesmerising Elliott here, she had the power to render small boys motionless.

Vintage Elliott: Baby Elliott

Moleskine

Elliott tries to make sense of his first Moleskine notebook -- a gift this morning from a fellow crack-of-dawn regular at Spruce Street Espresso. To borrow somewhat from this past Sunday's episode of Family Guy: It's like a Word document, Elliott, only made from a tree!

Babycino madness

Pumpkin mania

We arrived in Philly too late last year to witness pumpkin mania. The city, and probably the country's entire north-east corner, goes pumpkin mad. There are pumpkins on most doorsteps and, sensible bunch that our newfound compatriots are, people don't do the kinds of things to each others' pumpkins that Australians would if using them for ornamental purposes was a true blue, dinky di tradition the way ornamental gnomes and those swans made from car tires are. No, Americans leave each others' pumpkins well alone until the snow starts to fall and then they bring them inside and make pumpkin bread for each other. Maybe the prospect of receiving baskets of pumpkin bread (Elliott enjoyed this slice at the farmers' market on Sunday) from the neighbours is why nobody, say, carves the Dallas Cowboys logo on a rabid Philadelphia Eagles supporter's pumpkin, nor steals a pumpkin to take on vacation so as to send the owner photos of their pumpkin at Disneyland and Niagara Falls, nor appropriates a pumpkin as weaponry when neighbourly relations sour. Or maybe it's because Americans aren't the coarse and larcenous lot that we Australians are.

Leaf mountain

Autumn leaves

'Tis the season for falling leaves, warm coats and, according to our newfound compatriots, pumpkin spice lattes. WTF?

Vintage Elliott: Kangaroo

As delicious then as he is now -- 9-month-old Elliott meets his first kangaroo at Tasmanian wildlife sanctuary Bonorong. FYI, Hobart friends with small children to entertain: it's at Brighton and well worth crossing the K Line for.

Scarf

"Eddie wants own scarf, please!" The mini metrosexual rocks his new neckwear (H&M, $6.95).

Trick or treat