They grow so fast, these golden puppies. You bring them home, you blink and next thing you know, they're in the awkward gangling phase and then fully grown . . .

When the delicious sweet corn is ready on the farms in Illinois, what a wonderful time of the year it is. And it's not only us, but our pups sure do like a bite or two of the goodness. Daisy and Ginger take their turn at nibbling a little of the cob (but not too much).

Golden retrievers love their toys and treasures, and eventually they'll end up fetching and bringing what seems like the whole pile over to you . . .

Our golden retriever puppy Ginger found her way to a bed of flowers and couldn't decide between chewing them all or giving them a smell. Fortunately, she decided to just give them a sniff . . . this time!

The colors this Autumn are quite vibrant, and since puppy ZuZu (golden retriever) has been learning the sit command we thought we'd try and get her to sit where some of the colors would be in the background.

ZuZu puppy was jumping up and down on a couch in an upstairs room on a sunny fall day, and when I grabbed the camera to attempt a couple of shots, she stopped and stared at me for a brief moment. Long enough to capture a couple of golden retriever puppy portraits.