Hi Ladyhorse,
I just changed my own avatar a few days ago, so I am pretty sure it still works...my old photo was from 2006, and I realized I can use my laptop's webcam to take a more recent photo.
I put my new photo onto the desktop, and then I went into my profile and uploaded it from there! I did not need to go through gravatar or anything like that...I did have to try the upload twice but the second time worked fine...hope it works out for you, would love to see you on here SOLVED more!