"Thanks lyoalfan. Grief is a continuing process. Your words helped me.

I should clarify what I meant. I do see Ducky's character doing exactly what he did. With regards to his mother he has isolated that relationship from the others except when he had no choice. The only 2 times we see her are In the meat puzzle when Tony and Kate went and stayed with Ducky and his mother because he was in danger and when Ducky had to bring her to work (cant remember the title). Although he speaks of her, he never invited anyone to his house for dinner until this year when his mother is in the nursing home. I think he was embarassed by her. He made sure he didn't turn out like her. I think this is why he handled the funeral by himself.

As for the dogs and the house, he lived with her but the house, furniture and decorations were what she wanted not what he wanted. Some people want to hold on to what was there when their loved one was alive and some feel they need to remove themselves from those memories. This is what he wanted."

"I don't know that we're supposed to think his interaction with Tony ultimately caused his death. There was obviously a time lapse between the two scenes, to suggest that Mayne possibly had two instances of distress. At the end of the first scene, Tony and the two women are at the door. Then, at the scene where Mayne dies, they aren't near the room and are coming from another direction, which suggestions to me that some time has passed."