> >  I suspect I am missing far more elegant solutions.
> >
> >  All pointers :-) appreciated.
> >
> If you raised this question, i think you missed something in design of
> your app. That's the whole point of automatic memory management: you
> should not care how many references point to particular object. GC
> cares for you.
> 
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Igor Stasenko AKA sig.
> 
I agree with Igor. You will do care a little more only when an object has to release a resource. Like views, sockets or files. Anything with handlers taken from the OS should "shutdown" somehow so the resource is free a lot before CG claim that instance. But for the rest of common objects references in the image you just abandon them and they will GC'd automagically.

Cheers,

Sebastian